The Effect of Emotion Regulation Skills’ Training on Self-Control, Eating Styles and Body Mass Index in Overweight Students

Abstract

Background and objective: Overweight is a health problem in every society. The current research has aimed at investigating the effectiveness of emotion regulation skills training on self-control, eating styles and body mass index in the overweight students. Materials and Methods: This study was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design. The statistical population included all overweight female students of Payame Noor University of Rezvanshahr. The samples of this research was 34 persons, who had overweight and randomly divided into experimental and control groups (17 persons in each group). To collect data, the self-control questionnaire and the Dutch eating behavior questionnaire were used. Also, BMI was calculated by dividing weight (kg) by squared height (m2). Emotion regulation training was conducted during 12 sessions in experimental group while the control group did not receive any training. Data was analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance by SPSS23. Results: The results showed that mean scores of self-control, eating styles and BMI, after emotion regulation training, were significantly different in experimental and control groups (P<0/01) and this difference also remained in the follow-up phase (P<0/01). In other words, emotion regulation training leads to an increase in the mean of self-control scores and a decrease in the average score of eating styles and body mass index in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Emotion regulation skills training has an impact on self-control, eating styles, and body mass index. Therefore, it is suggested that this intervention applies for overweight and obesity treatment.

Keywords

• emotion regulation skills
• self-control
• eating styles
• body mass index
• overweight.